Designed to provide Grade 11 and 12 students with the opportunity to participate in a skilled profession through cooperative education and work experience programs, OYAP addresses the issues of skilled labour shortages, increasing the number of youth involved in the skilled professions, and supporting secondary school reform initiatives (including the development and implementation of transition programs and the expansion of cooperative education and work experience opportunities).

OYAP provides opportunities for students to participate in an apprenticeship occupation while enrolled in a secondary school program leading to an Ontario Secondary School Diploma (OSSD). In some cases, students formally begin their apprenticeship training.

The program is flexible enough to allow students to leave OYAP without consequences if they are unsuited to the apprenticeship program.

OYAP is an option, and not a path into which students are streamed. Successful OYAP graduates acquire their OSSD and accreditation for completing part of the on-the-job training requirements of a formal apprenticeship (whether reflected in a PPLP or a Training Standard or both). In our centrally coordinated 'Accelerated' OYAP programs, they may also acquire accreditation from the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities (MTCU) for part of the in-school training component of the apprenticeship program in which they are registered.

OYAP is an option for all secondary school students, including exceptional students, who are working towards an OSSD. A great learning opportunity for all our high school students.